


Coby's Confusion

by Black_Wren



Series: Dark Sea Chronicles [7]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Chaos, Everything's going to hell, Gen, Marines, Trouble in New World
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:34:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22797910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Black_Wren/pseuds/Black_Wren
Summary: Coby and Helmeppo struggle to help reign in the chaos in New World as they try to figure out what the hell is motivating the Straw Hat Grandfleet into attacking all their bases and ships.
Series: Dark Sea Chronicles [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1603429
Kudos: 17





	1. Part I

February 13, 801 WG – July 20, 801 WG

Coby didn’t know what was going on with the world. There was chaos and then there was chaos!

The Straw Hat Grandfleet, Luffy-san’s followers, had suddenly and inexplicable gone crazy all at once and were attacking Marine bases in New World. Between trying to coordinate reinforcements to the affected areas, tracking down the various pirate crews involved, trying, unsuccessfully, to keep the incidents out of the media, and dealing with the opportunist pirates that were taking advantage of the chaos to pillage and plunder to their hearts’ content, Coby and his friend Helmeppo were busier than they had been during their training with Vice-Admiral Garp.

“Someone had to have slipped something into their drinks,” concluded Helmeppo, his uniform stained, his shades hanging sideways on his nose and his long blonde hair, the only nice feature on his not-so-cute face, sticking out like he had been involved in another one of Vegapunk’s electricity experiments. “Either it was an ill-thought out prank or someone thought if the Grandfleet charged the Navy they would be easily to take down.”

“If that’s the case, I want to court-martial whoever had that daft plan,” replied Coby. His uniform was equally stained, locks of strawberry pink singed, a few strands continued to smolder unnoticed, but his glasses were still miraculously intact. He had them on his nose as he read through the damage reports from the various bases. “They couldn’t have done much research on these guys’ strengths.”

“Why are they doing this all at once, now, anyway?!” wailed Helmeppo, papers going everywhere as he threw up his arms in frustration. “I mean they don’t typically sail in the same area, but to suddenly start hitting everything at once…!”

“Their common denominator is they are all sworn to Luffy-san yet he’s not leading the charge. He hasn’t even been seen or heard from in weeks.” Coby bit his lip and worry filled him for his pirate friend. “I wonder if something happened to him.”

“Happened to him? Yeah, right!” scoffed Helmeppo. “Things don’t happen to Mugiwara, he happens to things.”

Coby snorted at his friend’s comment, but the smile faded quickly enough. Luffy-san was always the epicenter of chaos these days, his noticeable absence from the current maelstrom of disorder was alarming.

A few days later Coby’s secret Den Den Mushi rang, the one that he used to receive reports from his agent Drake X, the former rear-admiral now pirate captain. He answered the device with his half of the code word and Drake X responded. Coby actually remembered to say it this time, he was improving.

“Do you know what’s going on with the Straw Hat allies?” asked Coby.

“They’re definitely coordinating their attacks,” replied Drake X with sigh. 

Coby let out a sigh as well. He’d figured as much. Some of the group had worked together to hit harder bases and they weren’t doubling up on their attacks. Bases struck once had not reported being attacked again. They had to have been communicating targets, but why? 

“I hacked a line when they were teleconferencing this last time,” continued undercover Marine. “Some of them remember to encrypt their lines but not all, so the information is spotty. I missed the start of all this, and they aren’t rehashing those details, merely going over their findings and their next steps. So, unfortunately, I’m not sure of the trigger but it seems they are looking for Mugiwara.”

“Luff – Mugiwara is missing?” Coby always struggled to remember to not refer to his pirate friend by familiar terms when speaking with his fellow Marines that weren’t Garp-san or Helmeppo.

“Yes, from what they are discussing. Him and his whole crew are missing. They think we’re hiding them somewhere, that’s why they’re attacking. They’re seeking information to his whereabouts.”

“But we don’t have him! …Do we?” Like the Marine spy would know.

That was all Drake X could offer. He promised to call back if he heard anything else. Coby could only rub his face in frustration when the call ended. Something had happened to Luffy-san. But what? And why did the Grandfleet think they had him?

Coby headed over to the Marine Academy where Garp-san was stationed, training new recruits. The poor souls. It was what they had him doing instead of full on retirement. After all Paramount War, all of the dirty laundry had been aired including Garp-san being Dragon’s father and Luffy’s grandfather. It would have demoralized the younger Marines if Garp-san had left right after, so he went into partial retirement by becoming an instructor.

Coby related what he learned to the vice-admiral; it concerned his grandson after all. Though he wished he could provide more than speculation. 

“No one, neither pirate nor Marine, had seen or heard from the Straw Hats Pirates in weeks. That could happen if they were busy with some adventure that was out of Marine territory,” finished Coby, trying to leave it on a hopeful note. He and Garp-san were the very few in the Marines that would care about Luffy-san. While most Marines would cheer the disappearance, they both were upset by it.

Garp-san growled, anger and fear playing across his face. “That could be the case, wouldn’t be the first time he vanished to cause trouble somewhere we weren’t watching. But what has spurred those people to suddenly search for their leader?”

Coby had no answer to this. Garp-san sighed and began muttering something about putting in a few calls to see what they could dig up. Confused, Coby tried to ask what the vice-admiral was talking about, but Garp-san was already shooing him out the door. One did not ignore the shooing motion of Garp the Fist. If you did, the next motion was a fist to hurry you on your way.

“If he’s disappeared then why should we waste resources on figuring out why. Finding out isn’t going to stop the fleet from rampaging,” said Helmeppo when Coby returned form the Academy.

“If we knew that, then maybe we could tell them and they’d stop attacking,” said Coby.

“Yeah, right. They aren’t going to believe a bunch of Marines when they tell them we don’t have him. They’re convinced we’re hiding him and until Mugiwara reappears they’re going to keep searching for him.”

“Then shouldn’t we find him so we can say, ‘Look! Here he is!’ If they know where he is, they’ll stop attacking.”

“And if we find him? What? Are we just going to hand him over with a mild scolding for worrying his friends? They’ll just focus all their attacks on whoever has him. We’re stuck, Coby!”

Helmeppo had a point but that led to Coby’s next argument. “What if something else took him out? Shouldn’t we know what that was to determine if they could do the same to us? If it was Big Mom or Black Beard or one of the other Worst Generation pirates, or any pirate, they’d be crowing about it. What if it’s an enemy that took him down so no one would hear about them until they were ready for us?”

“What do you think will happen to us, if go out and investigate, then? We’d disappear too!”

Coby swallowed. Helmeppo was right, but they were Marines. Wasn’t it their job to investigate any possible threat to the world?

Things continued their downward spiral with no change in sight.

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! HOW COULD YOU LET A PIRATE, ESPECIALLY THAT PIRATE, GET THE DROP ON YOU?!”

Coby gritted his teeth as he hurried past the Fleet Admiral’s office with yet more reports of destroyed bases. 

Vice-Admiral Yasuke had just arrived from another annihilated base. The whispers described it as being an especially swift and humiliating defeat to one of the more notorious buffoons in the Straw Hat Grandfleet. No one spoke of further details but just that was enough to reveal how bad it had been.

“I DON’T WANT TO HEAR YOUR EXCUSES! YOU’RE A VICE-ADMIRAL! ACT LIKE IT! HOW DARE YOU BRING SHAME TO THAT UNIFORM!”

Sakazuki wasn’t one to stand for such disrespect toward the Marines. He also tended to punish any that failed to live up to his lofty expectations severely. Coby didn’t envy the man one bit, but it seemed like the yelling was taking on a personal note. The young man shook his head and hurried away before he became collateral damage to the Fleet Admiral’s fury.

Soon after a report arrived from Varian, the island set up to be Vegapunk’s personal lab after the destruction of Punk Hazard years earlier. It was almost lost among the dozens of reports of smoking Marine bases and pillaged ports.

Helmeppo discarded it thinking it was more the same. Coby, dutiful even with drudgery, snatched the report from the pile. All reports had to be read, and important points noted for the weekly incident report that went to the top brass, though it was currently a daily report since so many incidents were happening.

“Coby! We can’t read every single one of these things. We’ll never get the report done if we actually take the time to read them,” whined Helmeppo. 

Coby ignored him as he read the report.

_Location: Varian_  
Facilty: World Government Research Center  
Time: March 11, 801 WG 

_At 21:38 Pirates were discovered to have infiltrated the research facility. Marines engaged along with CP0 Agent Lucci. Pirates were discovered to be Straw Hat Luffy and his crew._

_At 21:47 Battle ensued in the Cryogenics Laboratory._

_At 22:08 Surgeon of Death, Trafalgar Law, arrived with his crew and joined the engagement._

_At 22:21 CP0 Agent Lucci was killed by Trafalgar._

_At 22:25 The Straw Hat Pirates and Hearts Pirates withdrew along with 247 test subjects from the Cryogenics Laboratory._

_At 22:27 Battleships dispatched from harbor. Due to a shift change, five ships were available to engage. Three more are in the area and are estimated to arrive in 15 minutes._

_At 22: 40 Battleships discover the pirate ships, Thousand Sunny and Polar Tang, on the back side of the island, near the cliffs. Drag nets are deployed to counter the Polar Tang’s submersion tactics. Battleships proceed to engage._

_At 22:42 A phenomenon of unknown cause is spotted to occur aboard the Thousand Sunny. Tentatively identified by surviving lookout as originating from Straw Hat Luffy. Phenomenon consists of lighting-like anomalies that appear to lift Thousand Sunny out of the water and begin striking at the battleships. All battle ships receive severe and fatal damage as if struck by the claws of a giant beast._

_At 22:45 The phenomenon dies down. Thousand Sunny and Polar Tang escape. Unable to pursue._

_At 22:48 Straw Hat Pirates and Hearts Pirates confirmed escaped._

“This one contains information on Luffy-san!” cried Coby. Helmeppo fell out of his chair with a squawk and rushed over to read the report over Coby’s shoulder.

“What the heck?! Lightning?!” yelled the blonde as he moved his shades off his face to better see the report. As if the shades had the power to change the words to mean something that was totally ludicrous. “Mugiwara doesn’t wield lightning! He’s rubber. He’s lightning’s natural enemy!”

“I know! However, they did identify the ships and Luffy-san’s crew is rather distinct,” said Coby, not believing what he was reading either.

“And what was he doing attacking Vegapunk’s lab in the first place?”

“It reads that he escaped with 247 test subjects,” said Coby quietly, feeling sick. Test subjects meant people being used in an experiment. Probably unwilling if they were escaping with pirates.

Helmeppo was quiet for a moment then whispered, “A rescue op?”

“That seems more like his thing. If one of the subjects was someone he knew…”

“Right… No power on heaven and earth could stop him then. But lightning, Coby!”

Coby chewed on his lip. It was so Luffy-san yet not Luffy-san. What was he to believe? He knew too well that reports weren’t always the most accurate. If a corrupt official had written it to cover their screw up… He would just have to talk to Vice-Admiral Garp about the matter.

Unfortunately, a gag order descended on the base the next day and Coby couldn’t speak with Garp-san about the matter or even tell him Luffy-san had supposedly been spotted attacking Varian.

This also meant the media was blind to the attack. Varian had been too tightly controlled and isolated for any undercover reporter to get near. The World Economy New Paper failed to pick up the story. Without the story in the paper there was no new information to reach the Grandfleet. And, judging by their continued rampage, Luffy-san, for whatever reason, had yet to make contact with his allies.

Was it really Luffy-san at Varian? Why wouldn’t he speak with his allies when they were clearly acting out? Unfortunately, the Straw Hat Pirate Captain was once again in the wind. No one saw him after the attack despite lookouts being posted. His trail had gone cold and the Grand Fleet continued to rage.

After hitting every base, save New Marineford, they began to attack ships. New World was quickly losing its military power and the pirates were running wild.

Now there were new orders coming down from above. Marines from the Blues and Paradise were being directed to head to Moady Archipelago. Coby and Helmeppo were not on the call list. It seemed New World Marines were being kept at their posts, what was left of them. Why this call was happening was on a need-to-know bases and if you weren’t on call, you didn’t need to know.

All these Marines being summoned for unknown reasons and none of them to help quell the chaos in New World. What the hell was so important in Moady right now anyway? Helmeppo was pulling his hair out in frustration while Coby tried to remember what sleeping was like.

The pair found themselves fighting someone nearly every day as they tried to stay on top of their paperwork and orders. They hadn’t run into the Grandfleet yet and they dreaded the battle should they ever.

Then they returned to headquarters to find the place covered wall to wall with injured Marines.

“What the hell happened?!” cried Coby, alarmed. Had the Grandfleet finally hit New Marineford?

Garp-san turned at Coby’s shout, he wasn’t injured and seemed to be assessing the damage as well. His expression was thunderous, but it wasn’t aimed at Coby and Helmeppo, just at the situation in general.

“Garp-san! What happened?” Coby repeated, running up to the man.

“Casualties from the war in Moady,” said Garp-san with a huff. “They called me over to help defend New Marineford while they treated the injured here. Seems that, for whatever reason, my idiot son was having a giant throwdown over there. He had his whole army with him. All I can get is that the Marines held him off, so they count it as a victory. But what were they holding him off from and why did he want to get it so badly? No one will talk!”

“Eh?! Is that why everyone was being sent to Moady? They knew Dragon was heading there with his army?” asked Helmeppo, incredulous.

Just what the hell was going on? Coby yanked at his hair but all three were left in the dark about the true nature of Moady. 

The next few weeks were more of the same. Coby fell into bed and woke hours later still in uniform, not even remembering hitting the pillow and not at all rested. Trying to maintain the immaculate image of the Marines was impossible as he and other Marines struggled to take up the slack left by injured and dead comrades. 

The Blues were slowly descending into chaos, thankfully not at the same speed at New World, but it had become clear to the weaklings running around in those seas that the Marines were low on men. Pillaging was up in those places as well and monarchs were getting angry. More paperwork.

Coby was starting to understand how Garp-san could just fall asleep standing up. How many times had that been the only time the old man could sleep when he was rising up the ranks?

Then, one day, the Fleet Admiral stormed out of his office, oozing lava, in his fury and headed straight for the lifts. Men and women dove out of his way les they get melted out of the way. The man failed to close the door before he thundered down the hall, and Coby caught wind of a conversation being held over the Den Den Mushi in the office.

_“…White Beard execution was secretly done to deliberately create chaos in an effort to thwart Dragon, that didn’t work either. It wasn’t a bad idea; people do tend to cling to whatever represents security in times of chaos rather than embrace change. So in theory, taking out a major stabilizer of the sea should have made it harder for Dragon…”_

It was tempting to keep listening. Whoever this was that was speaking had a really interesting perspective on Paramount War it seemed. But this was Akainu’s private line and his office. Coby shut the door before he could be accused of eavesdropping on an above-clearance conversation.

The next day the World Economy News Paper recited an incident in Alabasta. Admiral Fujitora had been involved with that debacle. The most alarming thing about the story was that someone had found Pluton and had been sending it against Alabasta. No mention of the culprit. Whoever it had been guilty of moving the great behemoth had been lost when this ship was destroyed along with hundreds of brave Marines that had been battling the invulnerable ship.

The whole thing was just this side of believable if one wasn’t aware of Marine duplicity and their tendency to falsify news reports so they shine in their favor. Coby was jaded enough after nearly three years in the service to recognize fake news when he read it. However, there were no clues to piece together what actually happened. No new wanted posters or articles corresponding with the event. The only clue was that it all happened on the same day Sakzuki had stormed out of his office in a rush to get to Mary Geoise.

What had sent up there in such a hurry remained a mystery, but the Fleet Admiral had returned cowed and had been in an especially foul mood ever sense.

That mysterious speaker had to have something to do with this. Coby wished there had been a way for him to eavesdrop that wouldn’t have gotten him in trouble. Sigh.


	2. Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continued...

Another gag order seemed to be in effect surrounding Alabasta. No one was talking beyond the details of the paper. However, seeking out ones that did know something was impossible. The seas were still in chaos and Coby and Helmoppo were still without enough hours in the day to deal with it all.

Sometimes it didn’t pay to be the best at what you did. The pair continued to fight rogue pirates. At least Big Mom and Shanks were minding their manners. Black Beard, however, was throwing himself into the chaos, adding to their issues.

Fugitora arrived over a month later to help with reigning in the wild pirates, his assignment in Paradise concluded. Oddly, the Grandfleet suddenly stopped raiding the Marines around then. It was soon apparent why when the admiral spoke to Coby.

“The Barto Club hit my ship. Despite pinning him down with my gravity, Bartolomeo kept demanding to know where we were keeping Mugiwara.”

“I’d heard that they were looking for him,” said Coby. “But I heard Luff – Mugiwara raided Varian over three months ago.”

“He must not have been talking to them for some reason,” replied Fugitora.

“What did you do with them?”

“I told them Mugiwara was involved in the incident over in Alabasta and that he should be returning soon to New World.”

“Eh?! He was?!” Coby had known the story was fake but for Luffy-san to be involved in Alabasta again…! “Just what has he been doing this whole time?”

Fujitora chuckled. “I suspect the Straw Hat Grandfleet quieted down because they were able to make contact with him after that. I don’t know why they weren’t before but that’s probably what’s happening now.”

Coby looked around to make sure no one could eavesdrop then whispered, “Did let the Barto Club go so they would make the others stop?”

“No, the Happo Navy arrived, and Bartolomeo escaped while I was dealing with them. The Happo Navy withdrew fairly quickly so I couldn’t capture them.”

Coby sighed. “They didn’t listen with Commander Yoseph told them about the attack on Varian. Why did they believe you?”

Fujitora shrugged. “Maybe because I’m an admiral who would know one way or the other. Or maybe they still couldn’t reach him after Varian for whatever reason.”

“Maybe it was because it involved Alabasta. Luff – Mugiwara does have a history with that country,” speculated Coby. Not that it was important anymore.

“Well time to bring the rest of these rogues in line,” said the admiral. “With any luck I might get a chance to secure Black Beard.”

Things began to quiet down without the Straw Hat Grandfleet to lead the charge, and the Marines rounded up the remaining rogue pirates that didn’t have the sense to go to ground once the source of chaos disappeared. Black Beard bailed as soon as his coward sense realized the Grandfleet was done.

Coby’s secret Den Den Mushi began to ring again. Clearing the code ritual, Drake X launched into his report.

By luck, he had been close enough to hack a very important call between the members of the Grandfleet. They were heading to Dressrosa. Why was unknown, the call had been only partially intercepted. 

It was a prime opportunity to nab the troublemaking fleet as they arrived, but the Marines had taken too much damage over the past few months and their personal was spread too thin to risk a confrontation. So, Coby volunteered for a reconnaissance mission. 

“I’ll go and see what I can learn about their next move,” said Coby with a salute to Admiral Ryokugyu.

“It’s good of you to volunteer for this,” replied the admiral, “but it won’t do King Riku and Dressrosa a lick of good if the fleet is planning to strike.”

“I don’t think that will be the case, sir,” replied Coby. “That’s the place where they first swore allegiance to Mugiwara. They also fought in defense of the nation. I think they are just meeting there. It’s probably just a staging area before they make their next move.”

“That last part is an excellent point. It probably is just a staging area. It will he harder to intercept messages if they can talk face to face. So by all means, go and see if you can figure out what they’re planning. We need to be ready, whatever it is.”

The admiral reached behind his desk and produced several items. One looked like a cone with a rod in the middle attached to an electronic box. Another was an eavesdropping Den Den Mushi that was connected to another device with two reels and dark tape going between them. A third device was attached to another Den Den Mushi and looked even more complicated. New technology it looked like.

“These things are the latest gadgets Vegapunk had produced. The cone is a listening device that can allow you to hear conversations a great distance away. The other is a recording device and will record whatever the eavesdropper picks up with such detail that this device, the decryptor, can take the time later to decrypt it and read it back to you later. This way, we can still figure out even the encrypted calls, though it will take some time depending on the encryption. They are experimental, however, but Vegapunk would love to read the report if you’re able to use them.”

Coby set himself up on the ridge that guarded the island from the sea and its invaders. Pirates tended to anchor offshore since they weren’t supposed to be near Dressrosa. In fact, he was closest to the side where Green Bit lay. If they were going to gather anywhere, the secluded neighbor was an excellent gather point.

While he watched from his hide-away, he saw the pirates arrive over a course of several days but do nothing more. He set up his listening device, trying to capture conversations from onboard. However, only fragments came through. The range of the thing must have been greatly reduced when trying to listen over a noisy sea. Occasionally they came ashore for supplies but kept the trouble to a minimum. They didn’t do much more than shoot the breeze when they did talk and nothing was said of why they were there. The listening device had no trouble picking up their conversations, though they were in town and he was still up on the ridge. 

It appeared they were waiting, but for what? For Luffy-san? Why?

Coby kept meticulous notes of his observations, hoping that going over them later would reveal something.

Then his eavesdropping Den Den Mushi buzzed with an intercepted call, but it became garbled almost immediately. Someone was encrypting the line this time. He hit record; he would have to run the recording through decryptor to figure out what was being said. Still it would probably be too late to act on it one it was translated.

The fleet then moved off as one, heading somewhere else, but together. That was concerning. They had waited here without anyone appearing or anything happening and now they were leaving. That encrypted call must explain why.

It took hours for the decryptor to finally make the recorded call understandable. It had been a good encryption. When he finally was able to listen to it. He was stunned by what he heard.

It was Luffy-san, explaining why he couldn’t meet with them as they originally planned.

Coby was shocked to learn of the destruction of Fishman Island, but it sounded like the people were safe. They were now heading to a place called Amador that Orlumbus had found years ago. An island that lay on the border between the Calm Belt and the Grandline.

That was why the fleet had left. They were meeting up with Luffy-san to help show him the way as well as to learn why he had been missing. He had the heading where they would all meet up, but they would probably be gone before anyone could mobilize a large enough force to deal with the entire Straw Hat Grandfleet. If they could muster one at all.

Coby returned to headquarters with this information. There were lots of things that the Marines needed to know in that little message. He called ahead to let them know what he had and was informed he was to meet with the entire command upon arrival.

When Coby arrived, he was immediately intimidated. The Fleet Admiral, Sakazuki, was there, no surprise, but so were all three admirals, Fujitora, Kizaru, and Ryokugyu; Fujitora was at the opposite end of the room from Sakazuki. Vice Admiral Garp, a female vice-admiral with short blonde hair and dazzling blue eyes he had never seen before, Base Commander Smoker, Captain Tashigi, Helmeppo, Vice-Admiral Tsuru, and former Fleet Admiral – now Marine Inspector Sengoku. Then the biggest surprise of all, Commander-in-Chief Kong who sat at Sakazuki’s desk.

Coby suddenly felt like the awkward cadet he had been two years ago instead of the Captain he was now. Kong looked at him and Coby realized he was very much in charge of this meeting, not an observer. Kong was intimidating all on his own, but he gave Coby a reassuring nod. He understood how unsettling all this must be to the young man.

With a deep breath Coby launched into his report of what he had observed of the fleet and what he had learned, even playing back the unencrypted message from the recording.

“We need to discover where this Amador is immediately,” declared the Fleet Admiral. “We must get there before Mugiwara so we can capture or kill him once and for all.” Akainu was in sour mood these days and his temper was hair-trigger. Coby was kind of glad now he wasn’t alone with the man. He was certain he would be melted if he couldn’t give the man the answers he wanted.

“That is foolish,” stated the unknown female vice-admiral. Sakazuki glared at her but she didn’t flinch from him. Instead she met his gaze with equal intensity. “The entire fleet will be with him. A fleet that just spent the last four months handing us our asses all over New World due to a communication failure between them and their commodore. You really think we have the resources to send after them when we are still recovery from our war with Dragon’s Revolutionary Army and the four-month ass beating we just suffered? Besides they have the entire population of Fishman Island with them. You can’t go all out with the entire race of Fishman and Mermaids sitting right there.”

“Remember your rank, Vice-Admiral Desiree,” snapped Sakazuki.

“Stand down, Akainu!” snapped Kong. “She’s one hundred percent correct. We can’t muster the forces necessary to take on the united Grandfleet along with Mugiwara. You also know that the standing orders are to leave Mugiwara be as long as that man is with them.”

The Fleet Admiral looked like he was about to pop a blood vessel and he suddenly found himself with a five-foot radius of empty space around him. No one really seemed to move, it just seemed to materialize around him. Coby grimaced then realized what the Commander-in-Chief had said.

“Standing orders?”

Kong flicked his finger up at the ceiling without moving the rest of his hand. Coby grimaced. Orders from the Gorosei. That was a big deal. But why? He remembered the voice of the man the day Sakazuki had rushed to Mary Geoise. Was that the man? Who was he? And who had he been talking to when the Fleet Admiral had run out of his office?

Vice-Admiral Tsuru shared his confusion but chose to voice it aloud. “Who is this man they are concern with?”

“Raiju.”

The younger members, which included Smoker and Ryokugyu, looked confused. The rest blanched while Sakazuki just turned redder. Fujitora was indifferent.

“Raiju?! He’s resurfaced?! Is he going to join Dragon now?! We can’t allow that! Our defeat will be guaranteed if they join forces!” cried Sengoku.

“He’s not going to join Dragon. He hates Helgram too much to ever work with the man again,” said Fujitora, waving his hands to calm the former Fleet Admiral down. “However, he refused to return to the Marines despite the Gorosei extending him the offer. He doesn’t trust them to do the right thing. He did, however, offer to aid us in tracking down the escaped villains of Impel Down that we have refused to acknowledge to the world. He thinks it would be in everyone’s best interest if they were taken down sooner rather than later. He will use whatever resources he had at his disposal to accomplish that goal. Whether it is us or Mugiwara.”

“That explains the orders then,” said Tsuru. When the still confused younger members looked at her, she continued. “Raiju is – was – one of the most brilliant military strategists in history. He was so good at being able to maximize resources that he could take a single patrol and wipe out an entire fleet. When he was involved victory was always ours and with minimum casualties.”

Fujitora nodded. “He took down seven of our battleships with Mugiwara’s one ship in less than ten minutes.”

“He hasn’t lost his touch then,” muttered Garp-san. “The brat.”

Coby swallowed. He could do that with just one ship? Add the entire Grandfleet to his planning…

“We are definitely not fighting the Grandfleet under these conditions,” said Vice-Admiral Desiree with a shake of her head.

“Besides we won’t learn where Amador is until after King Neptune arrives there and sends an envoy to report the successful migration of his people. Mugiwara will most likely be long gone by the time we receive that message,” stated Kong. “I can confirm the young captain’s report on the Fishman migration. We received a message from King Neptune mere hours before Captain Coby reported in stating that the populace of Fishman Island were migrating, effective immediately, and would inform us of their new home once they discovered it. They didn’t explain why the sudden rush but now I know it is because their island was destroyed. They already have permission to migrate so there was no issue with it.”

“They are migrating in the presence of notorious pirates,” said Sakzuki. “How can we not have an issue?”

“We have orders to leave Raiju be and he is currently traveling with them. King Neptune is still a member of World Government. We are not interfering with their migration. We have many reasons not to. You’ll just have to wait to acquire Mugiwara’s head another time.

“Besides we don’t have the resources to escort them to safety. If Mugiwara is escorting them then that’s one less thing for us to worry about. Honestly, this is not the time to kick hornet’s nest. We need time to recover.”

Sakazuki growled but conceded the point. The conversation seemed over, and Coby was about to take his leave when the blonde vice-admiral spoke up.

“Oh, I just remembered,” said Vice-Admiral Desiree as she pulled a letter from her pocket. “I was supposed to give this to you, Garp-dono.”

Garp-san took it as he asked, “What is it?”

“It’s a message from your wife concerning your grandson.”

Everyone, save Kong, Tsuru and Sengoku, stared at the two vice-admirals.

“Wife?” squeaked Helmeppo and Coby. No one said anything about the outburst.

“Oh now I have to hear this,” said Kong, sounding amused. “I wonder what she has to say about your pirate grandson. I’ve always wondered how she felt about that development.”

Vice-Admiral Desiree shrugged then started reciting the letter. How she knew the content was anyone’s guess. Perhaps it had been dictated from a call instead of being sent by ship. A rather swift arrival.

“Garp, my beloved, it is all fine and good for out grandson to have his own fleet, but he needs to stay in control of its actions, as much as pirately possible, no matter how under the weather he is feeling at the time. This involves COMMUNICATING directly, or through a representative, so they don’t act out without orders. He needs to take responsibility for the current state of New World. Relay this to him or I will personally march over to his ship to pinch his ear.

“Your devoted darling and eternal love, Griselda.

“PS. Akainu, your son’s even more of a fool than you and he deserved it.”

Sakzuki went red in the face and appeared on the verge of shouting, but Kong spoke before he could start. “Your wife is as opinionated as always, I see. And well informed, too. Tell me, does she still complain about Dragon never calling home?”

“Yes,” groaned Garp-san while shaking his head. Sengoku clapped a hand over his mouth and Tsuru sighed, though a ghost of smile tugged at her lips. 

Coby was even more confused than ever. Was the woman senile or something? So many questions and this was so not the time to ask any of them. Best to wait until he and Garp-san were alone to ask them. Maybe Garp-san wouldn’t mind answering. Maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is the answer to “A Fool’s Faith”. I said I probably needed to do one from Coby’s perspective.
> 
> Because the Marines are in the know and would need to respond to activities in “A Matter of Trust” and “Pluton” as well as “A Fool’s Faith”, this wound up being longer than the last entry, by twice as much. So that’s why it’s in two parts.
> 
> Like “A Fool’s Faith” this all takes place in the background of “A Matter of Trust”, “Pluton” and “Shard of the Moon” (unwritten).
> 
> And everyone please welcome guest star Vice-Admiral Desiree who is visiting us from the Fire Prince series. She will remain as the Vice-Admiral for G5, having replaced Virgo. She does have the same position post time-skip in the Fire Prince series which is why I have her here now. I do reuse my characters. That’s why Maryanne, Helgram, and Doc Holiday appear in all three series but with slightly different levels of importance. Just like some of the events and histories are also shared. So don’t take it as a sign that the series are linked, because they aren’t.


End file.
